Finger ring combination



y 1950 H. PETERSON ET AL 2,507,343

' I FINGER RING COMBINATION Filed Oct. 21, 1

IN V EN TOR.

- Peferson a. n/

Patented May 9, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FINGER RING COMBINATIONHenry Peterson and Frank R. Gardner, New York, 7 N. Y.; said Gardnerassignor to said Peterson Application October 21, 1947, Serial No.781,238

4 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a finger ring combination, and moreparticularly to a ladies finger ring combination, of the type andcharacter affected and worn by married women.

It has become the custom and general usage for a bride to receive andwear an engagement ring and a wedding ring, both of which are generallyworn by her on the same finger. The conventional engagement ring has amain setting for a relatively larger stone, generally a diamond, whichmain setting is flanked by smaller settings for smaller stones or forengraving. These flanking settings extend for a limited distance to eachside of the main setting, to the extent that the ring shows above thefingers, to set the main setting off in a decorative manner. Many of thewedding rings are made to match the engagement ring and have but alimited decorative area, sufficient to cover the exposed part of thefinger on which it is worn, which area is either engraved or set withsmall stones, in harmony and symmetry with the engagement ring, to forma matching set with it.

When such ring set is worn on the same finger, it is always desirablethat the decorative parts of the rings should always be and remain inposition completely covering the exposed portion of the finger, side byside, and should not rotate on the finger relative to one another.

In an earlier, copending application, Serial No. 759,057, filed July 5,1947, has been shown a set or combination of rings of the characterdescribed in which the two rings may be interengaged in a novel,convenient and effective manner, before and only before being put on thefinger, to prevent the rotation of the rings on the finger relative toone another as well as to minimize the tendency of the combination as awhole to rotate and become displaced on the finger, by reason of thedouble spaced, inner ring surfaces which contact the finger as a unit.

The present invention is an improvement over the disclosure of the saidcopending application and constitutes a development growing out of thesaid disclosure and made possible solely by the said disclosure.

All ring combinations or sets of the type to which the present inventionrelates, including the disclosure of the copending applicationaforesaid, are characterized by a common shortcoming namely, that whenthe two ring members of the set or combination are separately worn, oneof them necessarily has a projecting element which is wont to scratch orto catch in the wearer's 2 garments, tending to cause injury and damageto the wearer.

It is the general object of the present invention, therefore, to providea ring set of the character described, the members of which may beseparately worn, without any danger or likelihood of scratching thewearer or causing damage to her garments. 1

More particularly stated, it is the object of the present invention toprovide a ring set or combination of the character described in whichthe projecting interengaging element on one of the rings may be put outof the way, when not in use, and withdrawn from its projecting position.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a set orcombination of rings of the char-acter described in which theinterengaging means is strong and sturdy and will not easily break orreadily come out of order.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a ring set orcombination of the character described in which the interengaging meansis of simple construction and easy and convenient to manipulate and use.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a set orcombination of rings of the character described in which the ringinterengaging means inunobtrusive and will not interfere with or detractfrom the appearance and ornamental characteristics of the rings.

The foregoing and other advantages and superiorities of the ring set ofthe present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilledin the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawingand from the description following. It is to be understood, however,that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make theprinciples and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible,and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific detailstherein shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of an engagement ring of a combinationof the present invention, showing its cooperating interengagment means;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation of a wedding ring of a combination ofthe present invention, showing its cooperatinginterengagement means;partly broken away to show details of construc tion; I

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the ring frag-- ment shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. i is a view similar to that of Fig. 3, with 3 the latch membershown in partly withdrawn position;

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a section similar to that of Fig. 5, taken through anassembled ring combination of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a View in elevation, the ring combination in position forassembly or disassembly; and

Fig. 8 is a viewsimil'ar to that of Fig. 4, with the latch member shownin completely with-' drawn position.

Referring more specifically to the accompanying drawings, the ring setof the present invention comprises an engagement ring, generallydesignated as Ill, and a wedding ring, generally designated as H.

The engagement ring may be provided, among l other decorative media,with a hollow setting, 42, of the type known as a tiffany setting, for astone, such as a diamond. The setting, i2, may be provided with, one ormore ,light admitting openings, l3, on its sides, at least one of which,suchas l3 may be formed elongated in a radial r ct The wedding ring, ii,may be formed with an ornament receiving portion, M, which may be hollowandcomprisetheside walls, 15, which may have or receive thereon a topplate, i=3, in which setting openings, jfi, or other decorations maybeformed, and which hollow portion may be, open at the bottom or on theinside of the n ,,On e of the side walls, ,IS may have a slot, 2i iormedtherein, disposed, at right angles to a radius passing through thecenterof the section, 14 and which is off center relative to such m ina y in Aflatlatch member fi, is arranged within the said slot, ZB andispivotedtherein on a line W h the en r Of th sa po i n, 1 y m n of pin,22, passing through an aperture, 23, te m d, in halatch. 2 an. ap r .2 frmed inc e1 2.5 exle dinsinwar yr e b t edge of the wall, l5, and into afalse aperture, 25, formed inthe plate, J16.

he latch, ZL is disp sed Within the slot, iii, so that it isprojectingtherefrom whenin operating position; theprojecting portion including anelongated head- 21, of a length greater than thewidth of the opening, 13in the setting, 22, which head is connected to the body of the latch byaneck p rt pn,,.28, r a. width or thickness less than the width ofthesaidopening, i3. When the latch, 2|, is open position, fpartly p etin fro thesl t 2. t w in ay be t rfi g wd iii-the manner explained inour saidcopending application and as illustrated in Figs. '7 and 6, Thatis, the two rings arejuxtanosed withthe'irf corresponding diameters atright angles to oneanothe'r, so that the latch head, 27, is parallel, inits length, to the longer diinension of the'slot l3, and "maybein'serted thereinto. After it is inserted the rings'may be broughtback intocoaxial relation, with the slot, l3 fitting about the neck,28,*of the latch, its longer edgesabuttin'g against the head extensions.

When the wedding ring is worn separately, the latch, 21, maybe turned onits pivot to a position at right angles to the above, so that it lieswhollyor substantially wholly within the slot, 2!], without any materialpart of it projecting to scratch or catch in the garments. For thatpurposethe slot, to one side of the pivot may be sufiiciently long toaccommodate theprojecting portion of the latch and the slot to the other4 side of the pivot may be shorter, so as to support the side of thelatch when in upright position and also to restrain the inner end of thelatch, 21, to prevent its complete turning within the slot. For thelatter purpose, the inner end of the slot may be bevelled, as at 29, topermit part of it to fit within the slot while the other part of itserves as a stop.

This completes the description of the ring combination of the presentinvention. It will be apparent that such combination is highly eliectivefor its purposes, serving a convenient way for assembling the ringsagainst relative rotation on the finger and also to render theindividual rings safe and harmless against injury and damage to thewearer.

It will also be apparent that the last feature of the rings of thepresent invention is made possible only by the specific interengagementmeans provided by the invention, wherein the latch, is fiat and isdisposed at right angles to the diameter passing therethrough, so thatits receiving slot may be unobtrusively disposed, without weakening thering structure and with least interference with or afiecting of the ringappearance and ornamentation.

It will be further apparent that many variations and modifications ofthe ring combination of the, present invention may be made according tothe principlesthereof hereinabove set forth by anyone skilled in theart, without the use of any inventive ingenuity. m We desire, therefore,the protection of the patent laws for any and all such modifications andvariations that may be made within the spirit pf the present inventionand within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What we claim is: V

1. The combination of a pair of finger rings, one of said rings havingan ornamental portion including a hollow setting radially disposed onthe ring, said-setting, having a radially elongated slot formed in aside wall thereof; the other of said rings having a hollow ornamentalportion and a slot formed in aside wall of its said ornamental portion,said slot elongated in a direction perpendicular to a radius of the ringpassing therethrough, a latch member pivoted at approximately the centero f its length at approximately the center of said second slot forrotary movement in the plane ofthe slot, said latch member having at oneend thereof a head portion of a transverse cross section approximatelyequal to the longitudinal cross section of said first slot and a neckportionadjacent said head portion and to one side of the pivot therewithof a Width and thickness less than the width of said first slot; saidlatch member adapted to be positioned substantially completely Withinsaid second slot in one position and with said head'and neck projectingtherefrom in another position.

2. The combination of a pair of finger rings,

cne'of said rings having a hollow portion with.

a radially elongated slot formed in a side wall of said hollow portion;the other of said rings having a hollow portion with a slot formed in aside wall of said hollow portion elongated in a direction perpendicularto a radius of the ring passing through the slot; a latch member pivotedat approximately the center of its length at approximately the center ofsaid second slot for movement in the plane of said second slot, saidlatch member having at one end thereof N a head portion of a transversecross section approximately equal to the longitudinal cross section ofsaid first slot and a neck portion adjacent said head portion and to thesame side of the pivot therewith of a cross section less than the widthof said first slot, said pivot arranged with respect to the width ofsaid latch member whereby said latch member may be wholly disposedwithin said hollow ring portion flush with the outer edges of said slotin one position, and with said head and neck portions projectingoutwardly of said slot in another position.

3. The combination of a pair of finger rings, one of said rings having ahollow portion with a radially elongated slot formed in a side wall ofsaid hollow portion; the other of said rings having a hollow portionwith a slot formed in a side wall of said hollow portion elongated in adirection perpendicular to a radius of the ring passing therethrough; alatch member pivoted at approximately a central portion of its length atapproximately a central portion of said sec ond slot for movement in theplane of said second slot, said latch member having at one end thereof ahead portion of a transverse cross section approximately equal to thelongitudinal cross section of said first slot and adapted to be insertedthereinto and a neck portion adjacent said head portion and to the sameside of the pivot therewith of a cross section less than the width ofsaid first slot and adapted to be rotated therewithin; said latch memberand said pivot arranged with respect to said slot in said second ring ina manner permittin the said latch member to be wholly disposed withinsaid second slot in one position and with its head and neck portionprojecting therefrom in another position; said latch member having meanson the other end thereof adapted to engage an inner edge of said secondslot to limit the movement of the latch member within said slot.

4. The combination of claim 3, wherein the means on said other end ofsaid latch member for limiting its rotation within said second slotcomprises a tapered extension of said latch end adapted to engage aninner side edge of said second slot.

HENRY PETERSON. FRANK R. GARDNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,536,540 Thomas May 5, 19252,127,766 Coleman Aug. 23, 1938

